Chapter 10

Chloe sat in the darkened corner of the room watching the bad men talking. The men were speaking quietly and she couldn't understand what they were saying but knew it couldn't be good given her situation. The only thing that Chloe could hope for was that they would leave so she could get a message to Meghan.

"Nott, you stay here and watch the girl. We will return shortly." Lucius commanded.

With a nod of his head, signifying he understood, all of the men left the room. Chloe watched as he perched on the edge of a table about five metres from Meghan. This was her chance to make her presence known to her best friend, and reassure her that they would be fine.

When the children were born, Chloe, Meghan, Evan and Ronni were together constantly. Ronni and Evan had a bond built on the fact they were twins. Meghan and Chloe's bond was built upon friendship. Ginny and Penelope would talk about the closeness of their daughters and allowed them to spend a lot of time together. Over time, the girls have developed a bond that allowed them to communicate in ways nobody can understand nor explain. Ginny did on some level because when she and Ron were children, they had the same way of communicating.

Chloe and Meg would look at each other and never speak a word. Their parents believed that some of these communication skills came from watching both sets of twins. George and Fred spoke with each other without uttering a word. The same is true with Ronni and Evan who also developed this special bond.

Chloe crept along the side of the wall making sure the cloak was still covering her. While she didn't understand much of what was said, Chloe heard that the bad men wanted both of them. The blonde with long hair mentioned that he hoped her mum put as much value on Meghan's life as she did Chloe's, not that she knew what he meant.

Mr. Nott wasn't paying attention to Meghan in the least. He was looking at some papers that were on the desk in the room. Chloe sat against the wall wondering if she could get Meghan's attention.

Her mum told her about "wishing magic" when Chloe started summoning things to her after her fourth birthday. So, she started wishing that Meghan would look to where she was. The little girl kept that thought in her mind and wished very hard that her best friend will look in her direction. Chloe stared at Meg.

Please look over. Meghan look over here. The thought kept running through her mind like a mantra. If she could get her attention, then Chloe would reassure Meghan that they would be fine and someone would come and save them. It took all of Chloe's might but Meghan finally looked in her cousin's direction. Making sure Nott was still preoccupied Chloe lifted the clock enough for Meghan to see her cousin's striking green eyes. Meghan had to cover her mouth to keep from screaming for joy.

Nott looked at the girl and Chloe knew that she had to hide again or risk being caught. Nott turned and looked in the direction that Meghan was staring at but saw nothing. He walked over to that part of the room and began to "feel" around even if there was nobody there. Just incase. When Nott stumbled about and found nothing he decided that Meghan had just been trying to make him look stupid and went back to his reading. Chloe returned to the spot that she had once been, once Nott had returned to his reading. She once again showed Megan that she was present, and began communicating with her. Of course, Nott just carried on reading, completely oblivious to everything around him.

"How could she slip through our fingers? We had her... WE HAD HER!!!" Lucius yelled.

"Correction father, I had her." Draco stated in a calm, yet sarcastic tone.

"You'd do well not to remind me of your incompetence son." Lucius barked at Draco.

"And you would do well to remember that if it wasn't for me you'd be rotting in Azkaban with the rest of your ilk." Draco said standing up and glaring at his father. Neither man gave an inch in the debate.

Lucius finally decided that he had more pressing matters to attend to than sparring semantics with his son.

"We have that little Weasley brat. I have no doubt that Ginny Potter will bow to our demands. She may not be a Weasley in name any longer but she is still one of that brood. She will do as we ask, especially if we give her reason to." Lucius informed his son.

"What part will we be sending to them first father?" Draco inquired knowing where his father was going with this.

"I think her pinkie finger will do. Since you'll be doing the cutting I'll let you decide which one."

He then tossed Draco a knife. Draco picked up the dull knife and contemplated his next statement.

"You might think twice about this course of action father. If we harm the girl they're more likely to try and find their way here. We have the psychological advantage that they think the worst of us." Draco said.

"They should be worried for her safety." Lucius added.

"Exactly father. Just send a second message asking for more galleons under the treat of physical harm. They'll cave faster than Fudge at a council meeting."

"Imagine that, a good idea coming from my son. You might just yet prove to me that you are a true Malfoy, Draco."

Chloe managed to sneak out of the building that the Malfoys were using as a hideout to try and see if she recognised where she was. As she looked around she knew for sure that she had never been to this place before in her life. Darting out into the snow Chloe tried to think of something that might help someone find Meghan and herself. Spotting a stack of old boxes, Chloe ran over and tried to do the one thing that she and Meghan were proficient at and absolutely terrified their parents... She used magic to start a fire. Concentrating with all her might, Chloe managed to wandlessly ignite the boxes. Chloe smiled widely until she realised the fire was much larger than she had intended. Moving as quickly as her little legs would carry her, she dashed back to the doorway and waited for her chance to run back inside.

"FIRE!" a Death Eater yelled.

Draco shot out of his chair and ran to the window to see what was going on. Sure enough there was an enormous bonfire outside of the building that his father had chosen for a hide out.

Draco sat back and smirked as he watched his father's men scurry to put out the fire. The location that had been chosen to keep the little tyke secure was so remote that should anyone spot a bonfire from the air they would most assuredly investigate. The area had not been set up with a charm masking their presence from muggles because this is very complex and ancient magic that requires very powerful wizards and witches to perform. Such rare magic would certainly attract unwanted attention.

Draco was smiling as his father walked back into the room.

"Was it a careless smoker father?" Draco asked, sarcasm dripping with each word.

"No. Those boxes were covered with enough snow that they shouldn't have burnt. No, that was a magical fire."

"So which of your incompetent employees is behind this little attention getter." Draco inquired.

"I don't know. Why don't you go make yourself useful and see if there are any clues to who it might have been."

"Of course father." Draco smirked rising from his chair. "It's not like you couldn't have done so while you were about" he muttered on his way out of the building.

Chloe watched as Draco Malfoy, whose name she heard recently, flung the door open and walked in the direction of her "little" fire. Taking a quick peak inside to see if anyone was comingChloe darted in, shook the snow from her boots and crept back towards her cousin.

Nott was sleeping with the Daily Prophet covering his face as Chloe took off her father's invisibility cloak.

"Did it work?" Megan asked.

"Yeah but I don know if anybody saw it." Chloe replied.

"I hope so."

"Me too." Chloe replied.

Draco was grinning from ear to ear as he returned to the hideout. He had indeed found something very interesting outside. Now he simply needed only to use that information for his benefit. Sitting back in the chair by the window, Draco propped up his feet and thought how he could not wait to see the look on his father's face.